


The Mysteries of Egypt Affair

by AllTrekkedUp



Category: The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Danger, First Kiss, First Time, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Pre-Slash, Slash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-05-08 05:08:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14687136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllTrekkedUp/pseuds/AllTrekkedUp
Summary: Illya has to go deep undercover to stop a THURSH plot to steal from an ancient Egyptian tomb.  His cover requires him to fake his own death, but will it really turn out to be so fake in the end?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is an expanded version of my poem 'He Kissed Me'.

Illya Kuryakin was hiding a bemused smirk with his hand as he leaned against his partner, Napoleon Solo's desk. Napoleon was taking off a mud soiled suit. "What did you say to the young lady to make her splash mud on you as she pulled away in her car?" Illya asked.

"Nothing! I swear I didn't say anything to her," Napoleon insisted. He stripped down to his gray boxers and turned to the hide-away closet in his office where he kept a couple of suits just in case.

"Perhaps that was the problem," Illya said. He got a good eye full as Napoleon picked out which suit he wanted to wear. How badly Illya wanted to close the distance between them and hug Napoleon from behind and kiss his neck and tell him how much he loved him. How long had he carried this unrequited love? Often he had wondered what Napoleon would think if he knew, how would he react to their first kiss? Their first date? Their first night together...

"IK? Are you still with me?" Napoleon's voice broke through his ponderings.

"Oh yes, I'm sorry. What did you say?" Illya asked. Looking he saw that Napoleon was now fixing his tie.

"I said I don't think I'll go out with Lucy again," Napoleon repeated.

"I don't think Lucy would go out with you again either," Illya commented.

A button on the small speaker on Napoleon's desk started to flash, he pressed it. "Solo, here," he said.

"Mr. Solo, is Mr. Kuryakin there with you?" a woman's voice asked.

"Yes he is," Napoleon said.

"Mr. Waverly would like to see you, Mr. Kuryakin," the woman said.

"Alright. I'll be there in a moment," Illya said, he pushed the button off.

"Do me a favor would you? Don't mention this little mud incident to Mr. Waverly? He'll find out soon enough when he gets the dry cleaning bill," Napoleon said.

"I won't tell him," Illya promised as he headed for the door.

"Thanks, Illya. You're a real pal," Napoleon smiled.

Illya found himself smiling all the way to Waverly's office, when he entered he saw his boss sitting at the table, waiting on him.

"Mr. Kuryakin, please have a seat. We have something important to discuss," Mr. Waverly said.

Illya sat down, curious. "What is it, sir?" he asked.

"You took a course in archeology at university did you not?" Mr. Waverly asked.

"Yes I did, it was my minor actually. I was quite taken with it, it fascinated me, it still does," Illya said.

"Good, because you'll need all your knowledge on the subject when you get to Egypt," Mr. Waverly announced. 

"To Egypt?" Illya asked.

"Yes to Egypt. It seems THURSH is on track to find the tomb of Amon- Cari, an ancient Egyptian priest," Mr. Waverly said.

"THURSH turned to tomb robbing?" Illya asked.

"Yes, you see this Amon-Cari fellow stole a cash of gems from the royal treasury," Mr. Waverly explained.

"Oh yes, I remember now. They killed him for it, he was so hated that they didn't even mummify him, he was just laid in his tomb. The gems were put in with him and cursed," Illya said.

"That's right. THURSH has a man who has found out about that bit of history and have put together a group who are digging for that tomb as we speak. The man is George Vanoose, which I know you've heard of," Mr. Waverly said.

"George Vanoose has killed more U.N.C.L.E agents than anyone else in THURSH's ranks. He is intelligent, calculating and deadly," Illya said.

"Because of this I want you and Mr. Solo to make yourselves known when you get to Cairo," Mr. Waverly said.

"Sir?" Illya asked, not knowing what the man had in mind.

"I want Vanoose to know you are there so he will want to kill you. You see you must become someone else for this affair, Mr. Kuryakin," Mr. Waverly said.

"You want me to go undercover?" Illya asked. 

"No, I want you to become someone else entirely. As long as Vanoose knows you- Illya Kuryakin, is an U.N.C.L.E agent he will try to kill you or Mr. Solo. But if one of you dies, you as I plan, you can change your looks and your name, then you have some freedom to go about looking for the tomb as an archaeologist. You will have a contact there to help you with anything you might need, keep in mind that this is will still be incredibly dangerous," Mr. Waverly said.

"You want to kill me?" Illya asked, somewhat stunned.

"Not really of course. Just until this affair can get wrapped up, Mr. Solo will be along to help THURSH believe that you have, passed on shall we say?" Mr. Waverly said.

Illya was silent for a moment, thinking all this over. "I think it can work, it will be dangerous though. This will be an interesting affair indeed. The only thing that I don't understand now is why Napoleon is not here to hear all this as well," he said.

"Well, we are going to keep Mr. Solo in the dark about your extended involvement. He will only be told the basics," Mr. Waverly informed.

Illya looked down, he knew that would be hard on his friend.

"I know it may seem cruel but his uninformed actions will help in this little act of ours," Mr. Waverly said.

"Yes I understand. When will we leave?" Illya asked.

"Well, you shall have to come up with your new identity, you can work with D on that. I shall inform Mr. Solo, you two will be on a plane by tomorrow afternoon," Mr. Waverly said.

"Alright, I'll go down to D now," Illya said. As he spoke Mr. Waverly was calling for Napoleon.

Illya left and walked down the hall, meeting Napoleon coming out of the elevator. "The old man wants to see me now, you didn't tell him?" Napoleon asked.

"What? Oh no," Illya said. What had happened in Napoleon's office felt like a hundred years ago now. He watched Napoleon walk away as the elevator doors closed, feeling anxious about the affair looming over them.


	2. Revelation

The next afternoon they boarded their flight leaving the country, they sat beside one another and Napoleon chatted for awhile before falling asleep. Illya couldn't find much to say, his mind was on Cairo and the things he had to do there, Mr. Waverly had informed that morning of when his death would occur. He had also told him that THURSH would think they had had him killed.

Illya looked at his watch, it read three thirty Eastern Standard Time, it was nine thirty in Cairo, it would be the next day there by the time they arrived. He looked over at Napoleon sleeping soundly, he thought about what it would be like to see that face in bed, waking up on the morning after, giving him a tender kiss, and his eyes opening and him smiling. What a feeling it would be to have Napoleon all to himself, for it to be him giving him pleasure, him making him moan in delight, him getting to see his red, flustered cheeks after, and whispering in his ear about it on the street the next day and watching him blush. 'Could I do anything to make Napoleon blush?' he wondered. He pondered this question until the man he was thinking about spoke.

"Which one was it?" Napoleon asked, sitting up straighter.

"Which one was what?" Illya asked.

"Which stewardess gave you that?" Napoleon asked, eyes traveling down to Illya's pants.

"Oh!" Illya exclaimed, he tried not to blush. This was supposed to be the other way around, he was supposed to make Napoleon blush.

"Hey, you act like I don't know what you're going through. I understand, you don't have to feel embarrassed," Napoleon said.

"Well...it was the one with the dark hair and brown eyes," Illya said.

"That turns you on, huh? Myself, I like blondes. Blondes with blue eyes, you know?" Napoleon asked, looking right at Illya.

"Yes. Excuse me," Illya said, he got up and headed for the toilet. Was Napoleon flirting with him? Was there a chance that maybe... No. No he was talking about his women, that's what he meant. Illya sighed as he shut the bathroom door. It would be a long flight indeed.

*******************************************************

Upon arriving in Cairo it was well into the morning, after getting their luggage they got a cab to take them to their hotel. 

"It was nice of Mr. Waverly to make our hotel arrangements for us," Napoleon said.

"Yes. After the last hotel bill he got from you I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't start doing it from now on," Illya commented.

"It wasn't so much, hotels are expensive in Paris," Napoleon defended.

They were taken to the Oasis Hotel where they had a room reserved on the forth floor. It was a fair size with two beds sharing a nightstand between them, across the room was the bathroom and on the way was a desk and chair. On the outside wall was a large window looking out at another hotel across the street, but beyond that lay the pyramids with waves of heat coming off the desert, making them appear like a dream in the distance. 

"What a view!" Napoleon said, standing in the window.

Illya was sweeping the place for bugs or anything else that THURSH might leave them. "It is nice isn't it? Do you want that bed?" he asked of the one closest the window. 

"Sure. Listen, the last time I was here there was this great little place called 'Of The Night' that has good cocktails and better belly dancers. We should go tonight," Napoleon said.

"I don't think so Napoleon. You can go if you like," Illya said. He knew he shouldn't encourage Napoleon because he would need him there. 

"Oh, maybe tomorrow night then. Well, I guess we should try to locate Vanoose and put a stop to his plans," Napoleon said. He had laid down on the bed to stretch his legs out.

Illya was sitting on the edge of his bed, hearing Vanoose's name out loud made him think once again of how dangerous this affair would be. "Yes, we should go out and espy THURSH headquarters. Vanoose has the Cairo office buzzing with his talk of gems," he said.

"Good idea, let's go see what the birds are tweeting about," Napoleon said. 

They left to see what additional information they could glean from hanging around the cafe that was beside the THURSH office. They drank Turkish coffee and Illya steadily ate the entire two hours they were there. From eavesdropping they found out that Vanoose was digging somewhere northeast of the city, they got nothing more than that and decided to move on before they were spotted. 

Leaving the cafe they walked down the extremely busy and dusty street, the place was alive with mopeds, cars, horse and buggies and not to mention camels and foot traffic.

"So, do we go out today? I'm sure we could find a guide quite easily," Napoleon said.

"No doubt. But I think in the morning would be better, we can contact the Cairo headquarters, maybe they can provide us with some equipment," Illya said.

"Like bombs and whatnot?" Napoleon asked.

"Exactly," Illya said. Though he knew they wouldn't be going out together, he hated keeping Napoleon in the dark.

"Well, I suppose we should arrange it," Napoleon said.

"I'll go- later. For now let's go to that tent market over there," Illya suggested, pointing at a line of tents that seemed to go on forever.

"Alright, I'm for that," Napoleon smiled.

As they walked and explored Napoleon would look at Illya out of the corner of his eye now and then, something wasn't right. If you didn't know Illya you wouldn't think anything was amiss but Napoleon knew him better than anybody and he could tell that the man was on edge. This in turn put Napoleon on edge, he looked cool on the outside but on the inside he was on alert, causing him to feel uneasy in the crowded place.

They walked the length of the tent market and back and then walked back to the hotel where they ate dinner in the restaurant off the lobby before heading up to their room for the evening. 

Napoleon took off his suit coat and shoes and opened the window so he could see out more clearly, Illya came up beside him. "You know the Middle East always makes me feel like a boy lost from home. But I am drawn into it, it excites me," Napoleon admitted.

Illya's heart was beating fast, he was going to do this, he took Napoleon's hand suddenly.

"Illya?" Napoleon asked, turning his head.

Illya kissed him, slowly and carefully at first but then open mouthed and needy. Napoleon was shocked for a few moments but was soon kissing Illya back, caught up in the moment he didn't realize they were in the floor until Illya left him to put a chair in front of the door. "Just in case," he said.

"Illya?" Napoleon asked again, he was at a loss for words as Illya undressed, laying his clothes on the bed.

Illya didn't say anything, he also didn't know how to say what he wanted to, it would only come out in Russian now, all he knew was he wanted this, before anything could happen to him- falsely or otherwise- he began to undress Napoleon.

Napoleon tried to help but found that his fingers were dumb, he let Illya do everything, his brain trying to process what was going on, but puttng all thinking aside the feeling was wonderful. Kissing and touching, Illya was being a little rough with Napoleon, he didn't want to be, when he had thought about this he had always thought of them going on a date and taking Napoleon home and making love to him, but there was no time for that, this had to be quick.

Napoleon had been with men before, once by choice and once by an affair in Italy, but nothing like this, no, nothing like this. Illya was doing this to him, Illya for gosh sakes, how could he have not known how Illya felt about him? They had been partners for four years.

It was over too quickly for both of them, Illya moved off of Napoleon, catching his breath, Napoleon lay there looking up at him, Illya looked back, eyes full of love. Napoleon relished that look. Illya helped him up and they sat down on the bed, Napoleon looked out the window a moment as a hot wind blew in, he felt Illya take his hand. "I love you, Napoleon," he said.

Napoleon heard a shot and looked over at Illya, who was laying back on the bed, blood coming from his head. "Illya!" he said.


	3. Loss/ I Can't Wait To Meet My Wife

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For all you NCIS fans out there (such as myself) there is a nugget in here for you. ;)

"Illya?! Illya?! Oh my God!" Napoleon exclaimed. He felt panic rise up in him and his hands trembled as he checked for a pulse and found none.

"Oh God! No! No!" Napoleon said, tears came to his eyes. He kept low and went to dig in his coat pocket on the floor for his communicator, his breaths came in gasps as the tears ran down his face. "Open channel F," his voice cracked as he spoke.

"Hello Mr. Solo, you have something to report?" Mr. Waverly asked, his voice sounding far away.

"S-sir, Illya- Illya has been shot and k-killed," Napoleon stuttered out, wiping his face with one hand.

"Oh my! I will contact Cairo headquarters for you, Mr. Solo. Stay where you are until you receive further instructions," Mr. Waverly said.

"Yes, sir," Napoleon said. He couldn't think clearly enough to say anything else.

"And Mr. Solo, I am sorry. It is a grave loss, Mr. Kuryakin was a brave man," Mr. Waverly said. With that he ended the conversation. 

Napoleon looked back at Illya on the bed and felt sick, there was his partner, his best friend, the man who had just made love to him and told him he loved him. 'Illya loves- loved me," he thought. He got up quickly and went to the bathroom, just making it to the toilet before he threw up. Everything that had happened had happened so suddenly, Napoleon's head whirled along with his stomach and the shock was like a smack in the face.

He got up shakily and washed his face, then getting a call back from Mr. Waverly saying agents were coming to get Illya's body and that Napoleon was to go with them back to Cairo headquarters. After this Napoleon seemed to remember that he was naked and Illya's body was as well, he went back into the bedroom and put his suit back on, he dressed Illya too, trying not to look at his face, he didn't think he could bear too.

He tried to keep his emotions in check as the agents arrived, they had a stretcher and were dressed as ambulance attendants, they put the body on the stretcher and took it down to the ambulance with Napoleon following, grim faced and silent. Once safely inside the ambulance one of the three men shook Napoleon's hand.

"I am so sorry for your loss, Mr. Solo. I am agent Muammar Kazi, number one of section two, Cairo headquarters," he introduced. 

"Mr. Kazi. I don't know what to say, I..." Napoleon trailed off, looking down. He was overwhelmed with sadness and shock. 

"I understand. We will take care of everything for you," Muammar assured.

"I want to help you get Vanoose. He will pay for this with his life," Napoleon said coldly.

"He very well may. But your Mr. Waverly told us that he would contact you again with your orders," Muammar said.

Napoleon only nodded.

When they arrived at Cairo headquarters Illya's body was left in the basement where they had came in, outside of a room. It was covered with a sheet and still laying on the stretcher, Napoleon couldn't take his eyes off of it and stopped beside it.

"Come along, Mr. Solo," Muammar said, he was heading for the elevator.

"I want to stay with Illya," Napoleon said, his voice sounded sad and hollow.

"Mr. Solo, I can assure you that we will guard Mr. Kuryakin's body. Please come with me," Muammar said. His eyes earnest. 

Napoleon finally took his eyes from the body and looked at Muammar, who had his hand out and was beckoning to him, he walked away from his friend and got in the elevator. 

"I hate to ask you right now but, how did it happen?" Muammar asked.

Napoleon was leaning heavily on the elevator rail and was pinching the bridge of his nose. "We were...talking. And someone shot him through the open window, probably from the hotel across the way," he said.

"We will have people investigate it. For now, I want you to go rest in my office, there is a cot by my desk as I often work late, please try to relax," Muammar said.

Napoleon remained quiet as Muammar showed him where the office was, shutting the door and leaving him alone. Napoleon sat down on the cot and loosened his tie, he looked around the small office, not unlike his own back home, he rubbed his face, looked down at his shoes and began sobbing uncontrollably.

*********************************************************

As soon as Napoleon and Muammar were safely on the elevator Illya threw the sheet off of himself and sat up. He looked towards the elevator as two men came out of the room close to him, he hated this, he hated that Napoleon was going through this.

"Come with us Mr. Kuryakin, we are all ready for you," one of the men said.

"Alright. Which one of you did the shooting? I would like to congratulate you," Illya said.

"That was Muammar, he is with your friend now. I am Noah, I will be going out with you on the dig," the short, young man offered his hand, he had tan skin, dark hair and eyes.

"Nice to meet you, Noah," Illya said. They went into a room and shut the door behind them, it was a conference room that had been turned into what looked like a movie make-up room with mirrors and make-up tables and clothes hanging on racks.

"I am Nari. I will be with you as well," the other man said. He was African and taller than both Illya and Noah.

"It is nice to meet you too. I suppose you both know me," Illya said. He sat down in a chair and looked at himself in the mirror.

"Of course. When did you apply the mask and bag, Mr. Kuryakin?" Nari asked. 

The two men watched as Illya started peeling off a thin, rubber face mask and it revealed a now small, empty plastic packet where the "blood" had come from. "In the bathroom at our hotel. I took the pill to lower my vitals and knock me out just after dinner, knowing it would take some time to take effect," he said.

"Excellent!" Noah smiled.

"Is everything set?" Illya asked.

"Oh yes. You have reservations at the Colonial Hotel under the name 'Dr. Donald Mallard and Mrs.' As soon as you are ready we will accompany you to the hotel as if you have just come from the airport, your wife will be waiting for you in the lobby," Nari informed.

"Good, I can't wait to meet my wife," Illya said as he began to color his hair.


	4. Start of a Journey

Night had passed by the time Illya had transformed himself into archaeologist Dr. Donald Mallard. He had dyed his hair brown and given himself sideburns and a mustache, he also added glasses and Noah helped him put a Royal Navy tattoo on his right arm at the shoulder. He put on a khaki suit and a safari hat, topping off his look with a stylish cane, he packed two bags with clothes off the racks around him and once this was done they drove to the Colonial Hotel. This hotel was much older and seemed more refined than the one Illya and Napoleon had stayed in, it had a grand staircase and a lovely lobby full of comfortable seating, as Illya was looking around he saw a smiling woman coming towards him.

"Donald! I was beginning to think you would never get here!" she said. She was about five' seven with long red hair and green eyes, her hair fell down her back and she wore a cream colored dress, she hugged Illya. 

"Katherine! It's good to see you my dear. But you know how those flights are, they take time," Illya said, he had a British accent that was loud and commanding. The only thing he knew about this woman was to call her 'Katherine' when they met, he put his arms around her waist and kissed her passionately on the lips.

Katherine blushed slightly when he let her go, some people were staring. "Donald, control your urges," she smiled.

"Well Kathy my dear, that's hard to do with a wife as pretty as you are. But, now that you've given me my welcome I think you ought to show me to our room. You did reserve a room for my men here didn't you? I want them close at hand today so we can discuss things before going out to the dig site tomorrow," Illya said.

"Oh yes, dear, it's all arranged," Katherine said.

"Good, good. Now, to our rooms," Illya said.

Katherine led them up the stairs to the second floor and down the hall a ways to a room in the center of the hall facing the street. "This is our room, theirs is beside it," she explained.

"Very good, love. Now let us go in and discuss our journey in the morning," Illya said.

They all four went in the lavish room with a four poster bed and expensive furnishings, everyone finding a seat they looked to Illya, as was afterall, their leader for this affair.

"Alright, you seem to know us, is your name actually Katherine?" Illya asked the woman.

Katherine smiled, she was sitting on the bed. "Yes, I know all your names from the briefing I was given, this is a very hush-hush affair from what I was told. And yes, my name is Katherine, Katherine Branch of London headquarters, it is nice to meet you all," she said.

"And us you. We shall discuss our plans and then go about our day as relative tourists, save you two, I would like for you to recruit us some more diggers and get whatever we will need to dig with. We will leave at five in the morning while there is still some cool left from the night, make that clear to the men you hire," Illya said.

Noah and Nari shook their heads. "It shall be done," Noah said.

"When we depart we will travel northeast of the city where Vanoose is digging. I know it seems impossible but we must find those gems before Vanoose, they would bring considerable wealth to THRUSH, so much that they could take over country by merely buying off everyone else, so we must do our best and then some," Illya explained.

"What about Vanoose? Are there any orders about that horrible beast?" Katherine asked. 

"Like any other THRUSH agent, if you can do nothing else- kill him," Illya said.

There was a moment of silence between them all before Illya stood. "I look forward to working with you all," he said.

This got them up and unto their jobs for the day.

******************************************************

Napoleon didn't know how long he had been in Muammar's office, he had cried until there were no more tears and he felt sick on his stomach.

Muammar came in and seeing the state Napoleon was in placed a hand on his back. "Words really do not help in times such as these. If there is anything that I can do for you while you are here, just ask," he said.

"Thank you," Napoleon said, he didn't look up.

"Mr. Waverly has said he will contact you via the visual computer in about ten minutes, if you follow me," Muammar said.

Napoleon got up and followed the man out of his office and down the hall to the computer room, Muammar offered Napoleon a seat in front of the console which he gladly took. Napoleon remained silent until the blank screen came to life, Mr. Waverly appearing, sitting in the comfort of his office like nothing had happened. 

"Mr. Solo, as Mr. Kuryakin's death has come as a shock to us all, especially you, I am calling you home. This affair will be turned over to the Cairo office, I am sure they are quite capable," Mr. Waverly said.

Napoleon's mouth dropped open. "But sir, you can't! I want Vanoose, he should be mine to bring in!" he said.

"Mr. Solo, we want those gems kept from THRUSH's hands and we want Vanoose, if possible, behind bars. This affair is not about you, or Mr. Kuryakin, God rest his soul, we cannot afford mistakes, and a man bent on vengeance would make them no doubt," Mr. Waverly said, firmly.

"I understand, sir. But if I could only-"

"No, I am afraid not, Mr. Solo. You will be on a special flight home by this afternoon, you shall accompany Mr. Kuryakin's body back. Is that clear?" Mr. Waverly asked.

"Yes, sir," Napoleon said.

"Very well then, I shall meet you at the airport when your plane lands. Safe travels," Mr. Waverly signed off.

Napoleon still stared at the screen, he knew one thing- he would not be on that plane.


	5. Chapter 5

Napoleon felt empty as he went about the Cairo office, he was thinking of a way he could get out of his plane ride home. Or he was trying too, his mind wandered just as his legs did, taking him up and down every hall in the place, he guessed he was looking for Illya, to talk to Illya. Tears threatened his eyes again and he went to the elevator, the ride down was like being shut up in his own tomb. He was alone, truly alone now, not like being at home and being able to call someone, not like his best friend had just gone out and would be coming back soon, no, Illya was gone forever and Napoleon was all alone.

When the elevator opened he took gasping breaths as if someone had been choking him, he stepped off and leaned against the wall a moment, squeezing his eyes shut, he didn't do well alone and he had always had someone. No one would do now, no woman could beat away his loneliness, not even a man would help, because it was far and beyond physical, even emotional, it was deeper, that soul connection that he and Illya shared, the talking without words, their unsung closeness, Napoleon was crying again.

As he wiped his face with his hand he looked over to where Illya's body had been left and saw nothing. He looked around and saw no one, where had they taken him? He walked towards the first door that he saw and had his hand on the knob when he heard Muammar calling for him, he turned to find the man stepping off the elevator. 

"I have been looking all over for you, Mr. Solo. I have your plane arrangements here, you will depart at three this afternoon," Muammar informed.

"Oh. What time is it now?" Napoleon asked.

"Half past noon. Can I get you something to eat?" Muammar asked.

"No, no, I couldn't. Where is Illya?" Napoleon asked. Looking around.

"His body is being prepared for the trip. Do not worry, it will be ready," Muammar assured.

"May I please see him? Please?" Napoleon asked. The look in his eyes almost caused Muammar to tell him the truth.

"I am sorry. You cannot see it now, perhaps when you get back to the United States," Muammar said.

Napoleon dropped his head. 

Muammar put a hand on his back. "Please, have something to eat. It will help sustain you on your journey," he said.

"Really, I don't think I could keep it down. Thank you, though," Napoleon said.

"Well at least come back up to my office and rest a while," Muammar said.

"I can try," Napoleon said. He was so weary he doubted he could sleep but laying down would be a relief. 

They traveled back up to Muammar's office where the man left Napoleon a few moments and came back with a cup of tea. "This might in some small way, help you," he said.

"Thank you," Napoleon said.

Muammar nodded and went to his desk, hitting a button on a small console. "Ahmed, will you come in here, please?" he asked.

It wasn't but a few seconds before a young man appeared in the door, he was the same height and build as Napoleon and had jet black hair and brown eyes.

"Mr. Solo, this is Ahmed. He is my aide in a way, my kid brother, and as I am due to be busy until you leave he will do anything for you. His office is just next door, all you have to do is call him," Muammar said.

"Alright. It is nice to meet you, Ahmed," Napoleon said.

"You as well, Mr. Solo. I have heard alot about you and I am very sorry about Mr. Kurayakin," Ahmed said.

Napoleon could only nod.

"I will leave now, but I will be seeing you off later," Muammar said. He nodded at both of them before leaving the room.

Napoleon studied the young man a moment.

"Is there something you desire? As Muammar said, I will do anything for you," Ahmed said.

"Anything?" Napoleon asked, now with new interest. 

.......

When three o' clock came the body was first loaded onto the plane and then Napoleon shook hands with Muammar before boarding himself, still talking with Ahmed, who hurriedly brought him a bag he had forgotten. Then Napoleon got back off after making a quick change with Ahmed in clothes, and walked away.

OoO

When morning came Illya and his crew of now ten struck out on camels into the desert, the cool of the morning didn't last long and soon the sun was beaming down on them, hot, dry heat. They were able to travel ten miles that day before stopping for the night to make camp in the open desert. 

Tents were pitched and campfires lit, some of the hired men cooked for them, Illya ate hardy and sat alone as night fell upon the group. Illya's thoughts were on Napoleon and how he was probably back in the States by now, mourning over an empty coffin. Illya had to wonder if his thoughts were on the night before, Illya's sure were, how he longed for the heat of Napoleon's body in the coming of the cold desert night.

"Hello, Katherine," he spoke.

"Oh my! I hadn't realized you heard me come up. Or did you see me? I have heard Russians have many tricks," Katherine said, she took a place beside him to sit.

Illya gave the slightest ghost of a smile. "That we do. Is there something I can help you with?" he asked.

"No, not really I don't reckon. I just...well I do suppose that I just wanted to be with you. I hope you don't think me forward," Katherine admitted.

"Not at all. You may sit as long as you like," Illya said. He looked up at the stars popping out above them.

"You just won't talk to me? I can tell you are the loner type, I love that type, I consider them a challenge," Katherine said, smiling.

"I am afraid you have come upon your greatest challenge," Illya said coldly. He got up and carried his plate over to the man cleaning them with sand and disappeared into his tent for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to update this.


End file.
